


Limelight

by ardvari



Series: the lives and times [7]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-19 17:38:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10644804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ardvari/pseuds/ardvari
Summary: She’s flying back and forth between the SGC, Nellis, and Washington for the next six months. After overhauling the entire computer system at the SGC and going offworld with SG-1 a few times on reconnaissance missions, she helps build the new Daedalus class battleship in Nevada. It’s amazing how far they’ve come since the Prometheus was built, the knowledge they’ve gained from the Asgard.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to _Arithmetic_

**Limelight**

She’s flying back and forth between the SGC, Nellis, and Washington for the next six months. After overhauling the entire computer system at the SGC and going offworld with SG-1 a few times on reconnaissance missions, she helps build the new Daedalus class battleship in Nevada. It’s amazing how far they’ve come since the Prometheus was built, the knowledge they’ve gained from the Asgard. 

She loves working on the ship, seeing it come together. With this one, she knows where every single nut and bolt is, has written the programs for all of its systems herself. This is her baby, her big, shiny baby. They’ve already named it Phoenix, and she likes the name of it, all the promise it holds. 

On the weekends she flies out to Washington or Minnesota. She still has her house in Colorado Springs, but she’s moved some of her furniture into storage, shifting her life to maybe, eventually, settle in Washington. 

It’s June when General Hammond passes away, and the entire team manages to come to the funeral. She’s standing between Jack and Cam, feeling their stoic presence. Just like her, they’re all wearing sunglasses because the sun’s so bright, and because when their eyes get misty, they can blink the tears away behind the dark glasses. No one has to see. 

Things happen fast after Hammond’s death. General Landry gets called to Washington to head a task force, and Sam takes over command at the SGC while he’s gone. The Phoenix gets renamed in honor of General Hammond and sometime late in September, when Atlantis is safely settled off the coast of San Francisco, the IOA offers her the command of the ship. 

Jack’s there at the meeting, settled in his seat at the head of the table at the SGC’s briefing room while she is on the other end, four members of the IOA and an entire shiny table between them. He called her yesterday, told her about the IOA’s plans to hand her the reins on her own intergalactic battleship. 

“This is perfect for you, Sam,” he’d said, so that today, with the eyes of all four of the present IOA members on her, she can nod and say yes without second thoughts, without worrying about what he might think.

This is the one thing he’s told her from the start, has _always_ told her, that he won’t wreck her career, that he won’t hold her back. Won’t even let her think about not doing something for his sake.

She decides to sell her house finally, moves the rest of her furniture into storage and all the little things she needs, all her books and clothes, into his apartment. This time she has enough time to tie up all her loose ends on Earth, takes a week after Landry gets back to straighten everything out. She even gets to say goodbye to Cam and Vala, Teal’c and Daniel. She gets to see Cassie, and then Jack takes a couple of days off to fly out to Nevada with her. 

This time it’ll be easier to return to Earth when she has to, she can simply beam down. But she won’t have time to idle in Earth’s orbit, there are things out there to do for her and for now she’ll be in charge of ferrying people back and forth between Earth and the Icarus base. 

She puts on her dress blues at the hotel, looks at herself in the mirror, likes what she sees. Jack comes up behind her, wraps his arms around her and kisses the side of her neck. He’s wearing his civilian clothes and she rubs the soft leather of his jacket between her fingers. 

“Ready?” he asks, looking into her eyes in the mirror. 

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she answers, giddy and a little nervous. 

When the _Hammond_ lifts off for the first time, he’s standing on the sandy expanse of the airfield, shielding his eyes against the glare of the sun. She can’t see him from the bridge, focuses on the clouds instead, mentally checking off the layers of atmosphere they pass. _Troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, exosphere._

The blackness of space surrounds them and she listens to the quiet hum of the ship, can already feel the tips of her fingers growing cold again. It’s always like this out here, where the world suddenly seems insignificant. On the screen in front of her, she can see the ISS below them, its solar panels flashing briefly, as if the station is waving goodbye. 

As a kid, and then as a teenager, she always thought she’d end up on the ISS one day, would have her picture taken in one of those orange suits, bright, adventurous smile on her face. Now she’s moving away from the ISS, going further out, wearing a pair of green overalls and having seen more than she ever thought she would. 

She looks around at her crew, a young team all busy on this bridge. She got to choose some of her team, which is the reason for Alex Vega to sit in the chair to her right, her dark hair short and pushed behind her ears. Vega had worked on the _Hammond_ from the start, an Air Force Captain and a brilliant engineer, but someone who was known to fly off the handle every once in a while, to go off the deep end. She has a reputation and Sam is her chance to redeem herself, to show what she is truly capable of doing. 

It’s easy settling in on the ship, much easier than settling in on Atlantis ever was. She isn’t pushed into the middle of a war without time to get her bearings before the next disaster strikes. She knows what’s out there this time, that the Lucian Alliance is causing trouble all over, she knows about the attempts to dial the ninth chevron at the Icarus base. She’s not going into this blind and it’s reassuring. 

She takes a deep breath and relaxes a little, rolls her shoulders against her chair. Jack was right. This really is perfect for her.


End file.
